Daily Archives: July 3, 2017

Hot on the heels of the label’s first drop from the back-to-school 2017 collection, Sprayground is back with a curated collection of camo-coated bags and backpacks. But don’t get it twisted: this is “the rebel bag company” after all, and while camo is perfect for blending into the background, this gear is perfect for popping out from the pack.

Kicking off the collection is a selection of Sprayground’s signature DLX backpacks. Boasting the brand’s attention-stealing shark head graphic, three iterations stand front and center: the Gold Stencil Shark, the Italy Camo Shark, and the Japan Camo Shark. While all three styles boast multiple front and side pockets, a velour sunglasses compartment, dedicated laptop and tablet compartments and a durable 900D water-resistant outer, there’s a few exterior differences. The Gold Stencil is wrapped up in a traditional camo with (as you’d expect) a graffiti-inspired golden shark face. The Italian and Japanese camo bags incorporate a dot-based camo with corresponding flag patches adorning the front of each bag. You may be adding some new stamps to your passport this summer, but rest assured that this luggage will have international credentials straight off the shelf.

If you’re still digging the gold designs, but want something a little bit different, consider the Camo Drips Wings backpack. Using Sprayground’s popular Wings design, the 900D water-resistant outer is rendered in traditional camo, with accents of dripping gold paint stretching from the padded back panel and down across the wings.

But what if you’re looking for a travel companion with a little more space? Look no further than the Gold Stencil Shark duffle. With a large main compartment, stash pockets, and a zippered side compartment that’s perfect for a pair of kicks, this is the bag to bring when packing for an extended vacation. Besides, with a 900D water-resistant outer, this duffle has your gear protected—whether you’re sitting on a plane, or lounging poolside.

The most exciting piece to come out of Sprayground’s new camo collection is its Camo LED backpack. Centered around the brand’s Trooper bag silhouette, the Camo LED backpack is reminiscent of Sprayground’s sold out “Bag to the Future” release. Boasting multiple LED lights across the front panel, the integrated, internal lighting system brings new meaning to the concept of “shining.” It’s not all surface level though; with multiple interior compartments and velour-lined sunglasses and laptop pockets, there’s plenty of storage to go with the splendor.

With summer’s bright colors right on our doorstep, standing out from the crowd is easier said than done. While camo is traditionally used to fade into the background, Sprayground’s use of the classic pattern is perfect for standing out this summer—be it with a blend of golden accents, or through the literal shine of illuminating LED lights.

Head over to Sprayground to scope the new drop, but don’t dawdle: like always, Spraygound bags are hyper limited and never produced again.

Humble has a DRM-Freedom Sale going on in their store, with games up to 85% Off. Their Audiobook Bundle deal that is currently active also targets gamers, as well as hackers, programmers and history buffs the general electorate, as two of the top-tier audiobooks are “Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture” and “The Plot to Hack America: How Putin’s Cyberspies and Wikileaks Tried to Steal the 2016 Election”

Bargain Picks

A collection of delicious and flavorful frozen treats made from simple, natural ingredients easily found in most pantries from Brooklyn’s beloved and wildly popular ice cream emporium.

The Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream Book includes ice cream recipes for every palate and season, from beloved favorites like Vanilla to adventurous treats inspired by a host of international culinary influences, such as Masala Chai with Black Peppercorns and Apple Crumble with Calvados and Crème Fraîche. Each recipe—from the classic to the unexpected, from the simple to the advanced—features intense natural flavors, low sugar, and the best ingredients available.

Determined to revive traditional ice cream making using only whole ingredients sourced from the finest small producers, Ben, Pete, and Laura opened their ice cream business in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, with little more than a pair of buttercup yellow trucks. In less than a decade, they’ve become a nationally recognized name while remaining steadfast to their commitment of bringing ice cream back to the basics: creating rich flavors using real ingredients.

Richly illustrated, told in a whimsical style, and filled with invaluable, easy-to-follow techniques and tips for making old-fashioned ice cream at home, The Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream Book includes captivating stories—and an explanation of the basic science behind these delicious creations. Enjoy these irresistible artisanal delights anytime—The Van Leeuwen Ice Cream Book shows you how.

Open Road One Day Deals & Promos

A laugh-out-loud novel about teenage pretensions and adult delusions from an author whom the New York Times has called “a Balzac of the station wagon set”

Chick Swallow and his best friend, Nickie Sherman, are teenage boulevardiers of Decency, Connecticut, devotees of Oscar Wilde who spend their evenings crafting perverse aphorisms in an ice-cream parlor. “There is only one thing worse than not having children,” opines Chick, “and that is having them.” Unrepentant aesthetes, someday soon they will be in Paris or New York, far removed from the mainstream.

Then the unthinkable happens. Marriage. Family. Dinner parties. For Chick, a job at the local newspaper writing an advice column punctuated by blandly inspirational Pepigrams: “To turn stumbling blocks into stepping stones—pick up your feet.” For Nickie, an unlikely career in law enforcement. But just when it seems that their lives have settled down before they could even begin, Chick begins an affair with Mrs. Thicknesse, a newspaper music critic of ample girth and means, and a whole brouhaha breaks loose: blackmail, forgery, secret sleuthing, lawsuits. There is drama in suburbia after all, and Chick and Nickie are up to their necks in it.

A wild, witty tale of friendship, marriage, and infidelity, Comfort Me with Apples is full of the brilliant wordplay and delicious ironies that made Peter de Vries “one of the best comic novelists that America has ever produced” (Commentary).

More Daily Deals

Just in time for the Fourth of July, the Kindle Daily Deal today includes a number of Political and History titles today.

UK Kindle Daily Deals

More Bargain Picks

Manresa – An Edible Reflection ($1.99 Kindle), by David Kinch, Christine Muhlke and Eric Ripert [Ten Speed Press / Random House], was a featured New Release a few years ago, when I commented that the cover was a bit strange and the price a bit high ($18.99 at that time). If you found it as intriguing as I did, but held off on getting it, now is your chance. There are three recipes on the Kindle product page that you can download.

The long-awaited cookbook by one of the San Francisco Bay Area’s star chefs, David Kinch, who has revolutionized restaurant culture with his take on the farm-to-table ethic and focus on the terroir of the Northern California coast.

Since opening Manresa in Los Gatos in 2002, award-winning Chef David Kinch has done more to create a sense of place through his food—specifically where the Santa Cruz Mountains meet the sea—than any other chef on the West Coast. Manresa’s thought-provoking dishes and unconventional pairings draw on techniques both traditional and modern that combine with the heart of the Manresa experience: fruits and vegetables. Through a pioneering collaboration between farm and restaurant, nearby Love Apple Farms supplies nearly all of the restaurant’s exquisite produce year round.

Kinch’s interpretation of these ingredients, drawing on his 30 years in restaurants as well as his far-flung and well-fed travels, are at the heart of the Manresa experience. In Manresa, Chef Kinch details his thoughts on building a dish: the creativity, experimentation and emotion that go into developing each plate and daily menu—and how a tasting menu ultimately tells a deeper story. A literary snapshot of the restaurant, from Chef Kinch’s inspirations to his techniques, Manresa is an ode to the mountains, fields, and sea; it shares the philosophies and passions of a brilliant chef whose restaurant draws its inspiration globally, while always keeping a profound connection to the people, producers, and bounty of the land that surrounds it.

The landmark story of Bush-Gorbachev diplomacy: “No one has ever given as complete and compelling an account of the higher reaches of foreign policy” (Time).

December 1989. The Berlin Wall had fallen. Millions across the Eastern Bloc were enjoying new freedoms. And the USSR was falling apart. But the peaceful end of the Cold War was far from assured, requiring the leaders of rival superpowers to look beyond the animosities of the past and embrace an uncertain future.

At the Highest Levels is the fascinating story of that unlikely partnership, a real-time exposé of the negotiations between US President George H. W. Bush and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev. Granted extraordinary access to private conversations and closed-door meetings at the Kremlin, White House, Pentagon, CIA, and KGB, Michael Beschloss and Strobe Talbott reveal the high-stakes international diplomacy that ended the nuclear arms race and decades of proxy wars.

The result is “an accurate first draft of the Cold War’s last days,” wrote David Remnick in the New Yorker, “filled with gaudy historical riches.” Each an acclaimed author in his own right, Beschloss and Talbott together deliver journalism at its best: an “intimate and utterly absorbing” record of this critical meeting of minds (The New York Times).

Please see this post in regards to backing up your books purchased from B&N and this post if you are having problems with the new web design.

All prices current at the time the post is written. Most bargain books remain at their listed price until “midnight” (each store operates on it’s own timezone and schedule), but prices can change at any moment. I have seen prices change within the hour or even minutes after posting.

Note: Any Amazon links go to the post on the blog, rather than directly to Amazon. Just click the link from the blog post itself to go to Amazon from there.

The US Secretary of State has reportedly told the United Nations Secretary General that he thinks the fate of Syria and its leader is now up to Russia. Rex Tillerson held a private meeting with Antonio Guterres at the State Department when he said the US was limiting its mission to defeating terror group Isis, according to Foreign Policy. Citing three diplomatic sources with knowledge of the exchange, Mr Tillerson said that though the US is committed to the 2012 Geneva Process that stated it, Russia, and other western countries would put a transition government in place, the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would be in Russia’s purview.